Removal of heavy metals from natural zeolites

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the use of clinoplitloid, a natural zeolite type, without heavy metals as a food supplement or pharmaceutical raw materials. In order for a material to be used as a food supplement, it must comply with the limit values determined by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, according to the Turkish Food Codex communication on supplements, and especially the heavy metal values of lead (Pb), mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd) must be within the desired limit values required. In this thesis, the removal of heavy metals from zeolites by electrokinetic method was investigated. In the literature section, the usage areas of zeolites and their effects on the environment and the living world were discussed. The fact that clinoptlilolite, which is a natural zeolite type, was preferred in the study and the supply of clinoptilolite was got from Manisa Gördes, Turkey, it encourages the use of domestic and national products in the study. In addition, choosing the electrolyte solutions used in the study from natural materials (pure water, lemon salt and common salt) emphasizes the environmental aspect of the study. For this purpose, an electrokinetic cell system was designed and it was aimed to remove lead heavy metal from zeolites. The electrokinetic cell system has 3 compartments and consists of graphite electrodes and power supply. By producing the electrokinetic cell system designed in this direction, the effects of various parameters affecting the system such as voltage (10V, 20V and 30V), electrolyte solution type (pure water, lemon salt solution and common salt solution) and concentration (2.5% and 5%) were examined. The removal efficiencies of lead (Pb) heavy metal were calculated. The use of heavy metal-removed zeolite in preventing environmental pollutants (gas adsorption, water treatment, etc.), in medicine (applications such as drug release, etc.), in human and animal food industry (feed and supplement) and in many industrial applications has been paved the way. Removal efficiencies were determined by performing elemental analysis with Bruker S1 Titan 800 X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Results were compared with natural zeolites without removal. Keywords: Heavy metals, natural zeolite, electrokinetic cell, lead, clinoptilolite, x-ray fluorescence (XRF).